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Classical Mythology Test Guide 

Test 1

Know:

• Definition of myth
• Kinds of tales involved in myth (myth proper, legend/saga, folktale/fairy tale)
• Greek Cosmogony (creation) vs. Ovid’s
• Who Homer was and when and where (rhapsodos)
• Who Ovid was and when and where
• Basic theories of myth
• Cultural Themes of myths read
• Main Titans and Olympian gods (both Greek and Roman names)
• Some artistic/poetic uses of myths read

 Know particular stories and characters from Ovid assignments:

Beginnings:  Creation, Four Ages of Man, Lycaon, Flood, Deucalion & Pyrrha, Apollo & Daphne, Jove & Io, Argus, Syrinx, Phaethon (Earth’s role), aftermath of Phaethon’s death, Jove and Callisto (in Arcady), raven and Coronis and crow and Athena; Centaur, Chiron, Ocyrhoe; Mercury and Battus; Mercury, Herse, Aglauros; house of the goddess Envy

Theban Tales: Europa, Cadmus and founding of Thebes in Boeotia; Acteon, Semele and Bacchus, Tiresias, Echo and Narcissus, Nemesis, Pentheus and Bacchus, Bacchus and the sailors, Daughters of Minyas—their tales: Pyramus and Thisbe, Mars and Venus, Sun-god (Helius or Apollo) and Leucothoe and Clytie (in Persia), Salmacis (in Asia)--, Athamas and Ino, Underworld’s sinners/rivers and Tisiphone; end of Cadmus

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Test 2

Know:

·         How classical legends and plays transfer to film

·         The characteristics of heroic legends and heroes ( Jason, Theseus, Cephalus, Meleager)

·         Marriage patterns – wedding customs

·         How myths ratify or authenticate religious and social structures

·         How myths reflect family relations – mother/daughter, husband/wife

·         Gender roles and relations in classical myth

Know particular stories and characters from Ovid assignments:

Tales from Argos: Perseus and characters –Danae, Acrisius, Polydectes (King of Seriphos), Medusa (Gorgon sisters), Atlas,
                           Andromeda, Pegasus, Phineus, Cassiopeia

Minerva and the Muses-- 9 Daughters of Pierus challenge the Muses, Song of Calliope—story of Ceres (Demeter) and daughter
                                     Proserpina (Persephone), abducted by Pluto (Hades), transformations of Ascalaphus and Sirens, story
                                     of Arethusa, story of Minerva and Arachne (in Lydia)

Assorted Royal Families-- Story of Niobe and Latona (Leto), birth of Apollo and Diana, Marsyas, story of Tereus, Procne, and
                                      Philomela, Pandion (Erectheus), King of Athens, whose daughter Orithyia married Boreas, the north
                                      wind

More stories of the Minyans:--Jason and Medea, Hecate, Aeetes, Phrixus and Helle, Pelias, Aeson, Phineus, Clashing Rocks,
                                            Argo, Argonauts

Themes of the play, Medea.  Whose tragedy is it?

Stories from Athens-- Aegeus, Medea, Theseus; Minos (Europa’s son), King of Crete, at war with Athens; Cephalus of Athens and Aeacus of Aegina, story of plague and repopulation of Aegina—origins of Myrmidons (Ant-people), Cephalus and Procris and Aurora (Eos, the Dawn)—story of Laelaps, the hound and the magic javelin

Stories from Crete--story of Nisus and his daughter Scylla, story of Daedalus and his son Icarus

Finally on mainland Greece:--the Calydonian boar hunt – Meleager, Althea, Atalanta
                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                  Test 3

 Consider the following general topics:

·         Ovid’s variations on love and familial relations

·         Positive examples of love and faithfulness among the myths

• Euripides on love and the gods 

• Hercules’ qualities as the definitive hero

·         Overall impressions of Ovid’s work

·         Trojan War – how different from modern warfare

·         Returns – difficulties for homecoming warriors then and now

·         Composition of Odyssey – why Homer begins where he does

·         Why has the Odyssey survived?

Themes of Euripides' Hippolytus and modern adaptation, Phaedra.  Know who Hippolytus and Phaedra are, and their family backgrounds.

Know particular stories from Ovid and class:

Stories told to Theseus:  Baucis and Philemon, Achelous’ duel with Hercules over Deianira, Horn of Plenty (Cornucopia), Heracles’ history (12 Labors—Nemean Lion, Lernean Hydra, Cerynean Stag, Erymantian Boar, Augean Stables, Stymphalian Birds, Cretan Bull, Mares of Diomedes, Girdle of Hippolyta, Cattle of Geryon, Apples of Hesperides, Theft of Cerberus—Eurystheus), Heracles’ death, Almena (H’s mother) tells tale of Heracles’ birth (Amphitryon), Iole; Iole tells story of her sister Dryope

Narrator’s tales: Caunus and Byblis, Iphis and Ianthe, Orpheus and Eurydice

Orpheus’ tales: Ganymede, Apollo and Hyacinthus; Venus’ punishment of women of Cyprus: turning girls into bulls or prostitutes, then stone; Pygmalion and Galatea, Cinyras (grandson of Pygmalion) and his daughter Myrrha, Adonis (son of Myrrha) loved by Venus; Venus’ tale of Atalanta; fate of Adonis

Narrator: Death of Orpheus                                                                                Odyssey, Homer

Trojan War – Back story

            History of Troy (Tros, Ilus, Dardanus), Zeus and Leda and children (Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, Polydeuces, wedding of Thetis and Peleus and their son (Achilles), competition for the Golden Apple tossed by Ate, competition for Helen, abduction of Helen

 Trojan War – 10 Years

• Mustering of Greek forces (reluctant members, sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis), incident on voyage to Troy (Philoctetes); Trojan princes (Hector, Paris, Helenus) and King Priam (wife: Hecuba; daughters: Cassandra, Polyxena; daughter-in-law: Andromache), and Troy’s allies (e.g., Amazons).
• Events of Last Year: Quarrel among Greek kings, death of Hector, death of Achilles, quarrel over Achilles’ armor, fetching Achilles’ son (Neoptolemus), trick of Trojan horse, fall of Troy

Trojan War – Aftermath

·         Death of all Trojan men and enslavement of women, esp. royal household; death or exile of Greek kings on their return home.
Odyssey:  Books I-IV

• Start of the epic scenes: Gods, Ithaca, Pylos, Sparta or Lacedemon.  Trojan War as seen by veterans years later.
• Characters: gods, Penelope, Telemachus, Mentor, Antinoos, Nestor, Peisistratus; stories about Aegisthus, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, & Orestes; Menelaus, Helen, Proteus

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Test 4

Odyssey, Books 5-24

 General Considerations:

• the personality and character of Odysseus
• the temptations, dangers, and attractions of sea travel
• perils of going home
• women – helping, hindering
• examples illustrating the rules of hospitality
• conceptions of nobility – in birth, in spirit
• values of the Bronze Age confirmed by the legends
• relations between gods and men
• Proper treatment of strangers (even beggars) in Ithacan households
• Penelope’s character and personality
• Telemachus becoming a man, his transitions
• Re-establishing Odysseus in his household; Odysseus in his community
• Tokens by which Odysseus is recognized by Argos, Eurycleia, Penelope

 Folks to know:

 Calypso, Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, Athene; Alcinoos and his wife, Arete, and daughter, Nausicaa in the mystical city of Phaeacia; Demodocos – Phaeacian singer, Aeolos, Polyphemus, Circe, Elpenor, Tiresias, Eumaeus, Theoclymenus, Antinoos, Penelope, Eurycleia (aged servant of Penelope), Melanthios (goatherd, ally of suitors), Argos (O’s dog), Antinoos, Iros (Ithacan beggar), Melantho (Penelope’s maid, sympathetic to suitors and Eurymachos’ lover), Eurymachos (jokester among suitors), Laertes, Philoitios (herdsman of cattle)

 Scenes/Tales to know:

 The cave of Calypso; Odysseus on his raft, shipwrecked in Phaeacia; encounter with the young girls and Nausicaa and entry into the city; banquets and athletic competitions – songs of the Trojan War and Odysseus’ response; Odysseus’ telling of his encounters since Troy: Cicones, Lotus-eaters; Cyclopes – Polyphemus and the pun, the curse; Aeolos and the winds, Laestrygonians, Circe on the island of Aiaia and her advice to Odysseus – death of Elpenor; trip to the underworld and encounters with the dead, Tiresias’ predictions, parade of dead Greek warriors – Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax --, sight of great sinners (Tityos, Tantalos, Sisyphos); back to Circe’s island and her further advice; Sirens, Scylla & Charybdis, Cattle of the Sun (sailors’ mistake); only Odysseus survives, drifting to Calypso’s island and Odysseus’ story to Phaecians ends; Phaecians return Odysseus to Ithaca and suffer Poseidon’s anger; Odysseus encounters Athene on Ithaca and she advises him; in disguise Odysseus visits his swineherd, Eumaeus; Athene also advises Telemachus to return to Ithaca; Eumaeus tells his own story; the reunion of Odysseus and his son; suitors plotting evil, Odysseus, disguised, goes to his house with Eumaeus; they encounter Melanthios on the way; Odysseus’ old dog, Argos, recognizes him and dies; Antinoos strikes him with a stool,  Ody. puts off a conversation with Penelope until evening; battle of the beggars, Penelope appears to the suitors, Odysseus and his son hide all weapons, Odysseus speaks to Penelope, Eurycleia recognizes him from scar, tale of how Odysseus got his scar and name, dreams through gates of horn or ivory, suitors driven witless by Athene, Theoclymenos’ vision and departure, contest of the bow, Odysseus reveals himself to loyal servants, slaughter of suitors, execution of disloyal maids, mutilation of Melanthios, reunion of Odysseus and Penelope (secret token by which she accepts him)—first night together, departure of suitors’ souls for Hades, visit to Laertes, reconciliation with suitors’ families.

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